“The fact is that you can’t hit a target that you can’t see. If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. You have to have goals.”

-zig ziglar

Have you ever tried to throw a ball at a target? Now, have you ever tried to do this with your eyes closed? If you have, I bet you missed. Do you know why you missed? That’s right, you couldn’t see your target.

How does throwing a ball relate to your career? Well, your goals are your targets, and the ball is the work you do. Not having goals is like closing your eyes. 

So… Do you have goals? Have you written them down? Read them often? If not, you are essentially throwing a ball with your eyes closed. Managing time, communicating well, being a leader, and all of the other corporate skills that we try to develop are useless without goals.

Before you go any further, you need to set your goals. Sit and write them down. Do it in a notebook or on your phone — somewhere that you can access often. This is step one. Next, get into the habit of reading your goals daily.

Something strange happens when you do this. You begin to think about your goals in everything that you do. The initial feeling is profound. It’s like standing back to throw that ball, opening your eyes, and realizing that the target is way off to your left. You don’t realize how far off target you are. Now that you’ve opened your eyes, you suddenly start to achieve your goals.

Be aware, there is still work to be done to achieve your goals. You can’t become, say, the next Steve Jobs, by just writing down and reading your goals. But if you take this one step — set your goals and read them daily — you’ll be much closer to reaching them tomorrow than you are today.